Famous
by YuniX-2
Summary: When Tidus returns, Yuna thinks her days of difficulty are over. But will she be able to cope with the attention Tidus is recieving from the media? The citizens of spira want to know who their savior's new pal is, and they'll stop at nothing to find out.
1. Prologue

A/N: Alright, here's the Prologue, all spiffy and redone. I didn't have many changes to make, but prologues are short. Be sure to check in for the next chapter, it has a few added conversations and more depth to it.

Famous 

Prologue:

For Yuna, it was a fitting ending to a time of trials and tribulations. The happy ending Yuna had always wished for. The feeling of euphoria when she heard his whistle, when she saw him on the beach below, when she ran into his arms and held on tight to make sure she wasn't dreaming. This was what Yuna had wished and waited for, for the past two years. This was the happy ending Yuna had always wanted for her story. But in a novel of excitement and adventure, when one chapter ends, a new and exciting chapter awaits the avid reader just a page away. And if pages were days, then a day would be all Yuna would have before a hectic new chapter of her life began. She did not know it, she did not want it. She thought that she had found her story's happy ending. But your story does not end until the day you die. Yuna did not realize this. Yuna, was in for a shock.

For Tidus, it was the third novel in the saga of his life. A new cover opened into the waves of the ocean and the sight of a familiar beach. Returning to a home of a different kind. He could sense time had passed, though he knew not how much, until he saw her face. But the rest of time was on his side. He had been given a second chance at life. A second chance that Tidus knew exactly how he wanted to spend.

Oh! Poor, kind, and foolish souls. Did you think it would be so easy? Would not the rest of Spira wish to know of this man who was suddenly glued to the side of their savior? Would they not scrutinize, not nit pick, not wish to be the ones to determine him worthy? An unknown guardian, a man not from Spira, who in the world would believe his story at face value? Even if the public could get past that, would they not wish to know every detail of his life just as they wish to know about Yuna? A new story in a saga, a new chapter in a story. A new enemy more formidable than any faced before. The media. A blessing in disguise or a demon disguised as a blessing? How do you defeat your enemy when your enemy surrounds you? When a single whispered word can bring your happiness crashing down at your feet? When a simple broadcast can make or break your day?

It's tough, when your father's famous.

It's tougher, when it's your girlfriend.


	2. Back

A/N: Alright, a few added conversations, increased flow and clarity; I'm feeling a lot better about this chapter now. This is how it should have turned out the first time through.

Chapter 1: Back

"It all began when I saw this sphere of you." Yuna said

"A sphere of me?" Tidus interrupted, "How did that happen?" Tidus never was the most patient person.

"Well, it wasn't actually you," Yuna tried to clarify.

"Wait, was it of me or wasn't it?"

"It wasn't."

"But I thought you said-"

The confusion was cut short by a man with spiky Orange hair. He walked up to Tidus and gave him a hearty whack on the shoulder. "Hey Brudda, it's good to have you back!" Wakka proclaimed. Tidus smiled back at his old friend. "It's good to be back. Long time no see, huh?" Lulu approached shortly after, and Tidus was hard pressed not to notice the little someone bundled in her arms. "And who's this?" He asked.

"That's Vidina," Wakka answered, "our son."

Tidus reeled back for a moment in surprise. Things had changed more than he expected. Wakka and Lulu getting together? He wouldn't have dreamed it in a million years! "No way! When did this happen?"

He was answered by a sudden leaping-hug-tackle of sorts from behind. "When you were gone silly!" said Rikku. Tidus laughed and gave her a quick hug back in response.

"Geeze, what _else_ happened when I was gone?" He asked.

Yuna sighed with exasperation "I was trying to tell you before but you interrupted me."

Tidus scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Sorry about that."

Yuna smiled fondly and took his hand. "It's ok," she said, "don't worry about it."

"Alright, but now I really want to hear what happened. I'll listen this time, I promise." He said.

Before Yuna could respond though, another voice beat her to the chase. "Yuna saved the world again."

Tidus looked at the woman who had spoken. He leaned over to Yuna and whispered, "Um… should I know her?"

Yuna smiled and whispered back, "That's-"

"Paine," said Paine. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Sorry if I can't say the same for you," Tidus said, "But if you've heard all about me you probably know why."

Paine laughed. He wasn't half bad. "He just might fit in" she said under her breath before walking towards the village to go get some rest.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Tidus.

Rikku was the one to respond. "I think she's talking about the Gullwings. That's our sphere hunting group. Her, me, and Yunie."

"What are sphere hunters?"

"We travel around Spira searching for video spheres that might hold clues to Spira's past. Things that Yevon didn't want us to know about, that sort of stuff. It's a lot of work, but it pays good money and its super fun!" Leave it to Rikku to think of derailing Yevon in terms of the gil it would get her. But Tidus supposed it was a habit any thief would get into.

A loud growl from Tidus' stomach brought a halt to the conversation.

Wakka laughed, "What, you hungry? Come on, lets all go back to the village and get somthin' to eat, ya?"

That night they all sat around the bonfire in the middle of Besaid village and shared their stories of the past two years. Tidus was in awe of how much the world had changed without him, and without Sin. Though he wished he had been there to see it, he didn't want to let it get him down. Ever the optimist, he simply wanted to make the best of the second chance he had been granted.

The next morning, Tidus awoke to the hustle and bustle of people rushing towards the airship. Spotting Yuna, he walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" was her equally confused response.

"All these people, they seem to be in such a rush."

"Oh," she said, "There's a sphere break tournament in Luca today, Shinra wants to go."

"Shinra?" Tidus inquired

"He's our resident kid genius"

To say Tidus was confused was ever so slightly an understatement. Who was this 'our' Yuna was talking about? Was Shinra a pet or something? No, that couldn't be right, she'd said he was a kid… A goat perhaps?

Yuna seemed to sense his confusion. "The Gullwings," she replied. _Oh right,_ thought Tidus, _that thing, I'd forgotten about it._

"So…sphere breakthen?" he asked.

"That's right! You wouldn't know. Sphere break is. . . well, why don't you come and I'll show you? There are some people on the airship that I want you to meet anyways"

"Alright," said Tidus, "Sounds good to me."

Yuna dragged Tidus by the wrist towards the Airship, and he smiled. It was nice to see her so happy, for once.

Contrary to popular belief, Brother was not retarded, just stupid. When he saw Yuna walk on the ship with a man who looked like Shuyin, he was intelligent enough to recognize that this was the man she had been searching for in the first place. In fact, he was even intelligent enough to recall the favor this man had done him two years ago.

Yuna pulled Tidus over to Brother and introduced him. "He drove the airship when we defeated Sin."

Tidus examined him. A Mohawk which may or may not have been peroxide blond adorned his otherwise shiny scalp, and purple ink plastered his chest in a manner that reminded Tidus of his father's own atrocious tattoo. So he recalled this man, though he doubted he would ever admit the reason he remembered was a tattoo which had – upon their first meeting - reminded him far too much of the person he despised with all his being. Tidus suddenly realized that he was staring. "I think I remember you, you're Rikku's brother, right?" He asked politely as possible.

Brother nodded. He looked around to make sure Rikku was nowhere in sight, then whispered dramatically, "Thank you for protecting her."

Tidus was at a loss to what he meant for a moment, but as he thought back to the time he had spent on the airship, realization dawned on him. "Hey, it was no problem! She's like a sister to me!"

Yuna had been watching all this and was still very confused. "Protecting who?" she asked.

"Before we fought Sin," Tidus explained, "he asked me to 'Guard Rikku' for him."

"He asked what?!" The shout came from Rikku, who was just entering the bridge. So she had been listening in. Not surprising really. In fact, Tidus decided he might have been surprised had she not come barking in at that moment. But Brother just huffed in frustration.

Rikku ignored this and continued to shout.

"Oui teth'd drehg E luimt dyga lyna uv socamv?! E's cdnuhk duu oui ghuf!" (You didn't think I could take care of myself?! I'm strong too you know)

"Oui fana vevdaah, uv luinca oui fanah'd cdnuhk ahuikr!" He yelled back, "Ruf luimt E hud pa funneat ypuid oui vekrdehk Sin?!" (You were fifteen, of course you weren't strong enough! How could I not be worried about you fighting Sin?!)

"Uh…" Tidus was feeling rather awkward, was it worth it to get in the middle of this sibling spat? Luckily, Yuna read his mind and saved his soul for him in the process.

"Just ignore them," she said, "they're always like this."

Tidus just nodded dumbly. "I see."

"Is everyone on board?" It was a man Tidus didn't recognize calling from the front of the bridge. In all honesty, he hadn't even noticed the man was there. He assumed this man piloted the ship though, considering where he was standing and the complex machinery he was tinkering with. Could this have been Shinra?

"Yes Buddy, I think so," Yuna replied, simultaneously deflating Tidus' hypothesis. It wasn't until the airship had lifted off the ground and Tidus and Yuna had headed down to the cabin that Tidus got to meet Shinra. Shinra was a smaller boy than Tidus had expected to see, but then he supposed Yuna really hadn't been joking when she'd said the genius was a kid. He seemed friendly enough though, and soon the two were in a heated discussion regarding the rules of sphere break. Tidus was disappointed when he found out that sphere break didn't actually involve breaking spheres, but once he got over it, he found that he enjoyed the game quite a lot. After playing – and winning - several rounds on Shinra's core sphere the airship finally docked, and the Gullwings disembarked with their newest member in tow.

"Hey Yuna," asked Tidus as Shinra was signing up to participate in the tournament, "What's the prize for this thing anyways?"

"It's over there," she said pointing to a pedestal holding a dress sphere "A garment grid probably comes with it too."

"Woah, cool! I want one!" He exclaimed. Then… "What does it do?"

Yuna laughed at his antics. "They let you change outfits in battle. They provide access to new equipment and abilities stored in the spheres. But you know," it was an afterthought, "you can borrow one of mine if you'd like."

"Nuh-uh, I want one of my own. I'm signing up."

"But Tidus," she chastised, "you've played all of three games!"

"I don't care," he said defiantly. "I'm gonna win this one Yuna. Watch me."

Laughing at his absurdly cocky grin, Yuna walked with him to the register and watched him write down his name. "Let's go," he said, and grabbed Yuna's wrist pulling her along through the crowd looking for someone with a core sphere. As he pushed through he heard a shout from behind him, and turned to see the commotion.

"Shelinda!" exclaimed Yuna as she rushed to help the fallen girl up, "I'm so sorry, I couldn't see where I was going, are you all right?"

"Oh! Lady Yuna! Yes, I'm fine," She said as she brushed herself off. "It's my fault as well; I should have been looking where I was going instead of fussing with the sphere recorder."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Oh, it's my fault really. I accidentally jammed the sphere in too tight. Now I can't get it out."

Back in Zanarkand, they had used sphere recorders all the time. This was a common problem. Tidus remembered many a night when the thoroughly plastered Zanarkand Abes would play catch with a recorder, only to spend hours later trying to yank out the spheres they had jammed in to it. But Shelinda didn't seem to be one of the strongest people in the world, and Tidus reckoned he could pull that sphere out with little damage to the camera. "Let me see," he asked as he reached to take it. Sure enough, with a few good yanks the sphere popped right out and Shelinda was able to put a blank one in.

"Thank you." She paused to stare at Tidus a moment. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" She asked quietly.

"I dunno. You do look kind of familiar."

Yuna elbowed him discretely. "We ran into her on our pilgrimage, don't you remember?" Honestly, he could be so forgetful sometimes. Though she supposed living on the farplane for two years might do that to you.

Tidus laughed nervously, "Not really."

Shelinda scrunched her face. "What do you mean on _our _pilgrima-"

Before Shelinda could finish her question, a loud speaker interrupted. "All participants in the Sphere Break tournament please report to the town square. The tournament will be beginning in five minutes. If you are not there to receive the standard coins, you will be disqualified. Repeat, all contestants in the Sphere Break tournament must be in the town square within five minutes." It clicked off with a whirr of static.

"Yuna, we've got to go." Tidus said.

"Alright. Goodbye Shelinda!"

But Shelinda was already lost in the crowd of people rushing to the town square.

After Tidus got all of his coins, the tournament went fairly quickly. His first opponent was an old man sitting on the bridge between the square and the stadium, which turned out to be surprisingly easy. Next he duked it out with a somewhat intimidating woman in blue who was standing just inside the blitzball dome. His last opponent of the required three was unusually enough, a dog. He had challenged the owner who was sitting on a bench in the square, but the owner had insisted that the core sphere belonged to her pet. It didn't bother Tidus though; he just beat the dog and moved on. Moving on meant he had reached the final round, quite a feat for a rookie such as himself.Unsurprisingly, his opponent was Shinra. But Tidus had played against Shinra's core sphere on the way to the tournament, so it was startlingly simple for him to beat the little boy at his game. Shinra was of course, shocked that the man he had taught how to play no more than three hours ago had just beat him in the championship, but Yuna for once decided not to care. Instead she ran to give Tidus a congratulatory hug. "I told you I'd win," he exclaimed when he saw her.

"Well, let's see your prize then!"

He pulled out a sphere and garment grid, but did nothing. After a moment she asked, "Aren't you going to try it out?"

He stared at her blankly. "Um… I don't know how."

Yuna laughed. Yuna spent the remainder of her afternoon teaching Tidus how to use a sphere and grid. It was a surprisingly difficult lesson considering how quickly he had picked up Sphere Break. But Yuna kept at it, and eventually Paine and Rikku joined her. It was Rikku who finally got him to transform, after explaining it to him in a similar way to how she explained the use of a sphere grid so long ago on that salvage ship. The outfit in the sphere grid turned out to be quite striking on Tidus. It was black and navy blue, with gold trimmings. The weapon was somewhat of a cross between a gun and a sword. According to Shinra's analysis, the outfit had once belonged to a young mercenary in an organization called SeeD, whatever that was. Apparently the sphere and society it came from were so old that most written knowledge regarding them had been lost in the machina war. Tidus vaguely remembered his history lessons as a child, but could only recall something about a war involving a nation called Galbadia. Not that it mattered.

Everyone had, had a rough day behind them, so most members of the Gullwings went to bed early that night. They were all asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

But being the light sleeper that he was, Tidus had to wake up when a loud thud sounded. It turned out that it was only Rikku, who had fallen out of her bed -- yet somehow remained asleep. Tidus quietly sniggered and rolled over to go back to sleep. Upon hearing a faint "What was that?" from the general vicinity of Yuna's bed, he changed his mind and sat up to answer. "I think Rikku decided she prefers the floor to a mattress."

"Not again," said a voice to his left, which he recognized as belonging to Paine.

"Just leave her" was Yuna's response, and not one Tidus had expected to be hearing. "She needs to figure out she keeps doing this or we'll never get any sleep."

"I take it this happens often?" Tidus asked. Both girls groaned in agreement.

"I'm heading to the bridge" Paine declared. "I get the feeling I'm not falling back to sleep tonight."

Tidus sighed in empathy; he knew that feeling all too well. "Hey Yuna," he whispered, so as not to wake the sleeping log that was lying in the middle of the floor, "come here."

Yuna groaned a little but got out of bed and came over. She could tell something was weighing on his mind. "What's up?"

"It's just, I've been thinking," And he had been, during every free moment of his day, "That Shuyin guy, he looked a lot like me, right?"

Yuna nodded, not sure what he was getting at. It was certainly a sudden change of topic, but she supposed drowsiness had caused the sudden shift of focus.

"And, I'm a dream. Or I was a dream I mean, regardless of what I am right now. I was one, right?"

Again, Yuna nodded.

"And the fayth, they said dream Zanarkand came from their memories of the real thing, right?"

Once again, Yuna bobbed her head in agreement.

"Then, do you think I was based off him? That his memory was the basis for my existence?"

Yuna frowned for a moment. It was something she had thought of too, once she figured out who Shuyin was. It was a hard question to answer. But she had dwelled on it for some time. "I don't know" were the carefully chosen words that poured from her lips. "I think, maybe, your face, and perhaps the outfit you always wear, maybe those were based off memories of him." She took a breath. "But I think fundamentally, who you are is different. Your personalities are like night and day. He seemed so serious whenever I spoke to him."

"I think a thousand years of waiting for revenge might do that to anyone."

"No, the seriousness was something Lenne liked about him, so I new he'd always had it. I could tell, because when I wore her dress sphere…"

"I know, you felt what she felt."

"Yes, so, even if you were shaped from memories of him, I don't think it really matters, because you're nothing alike."

"Thank you" Tidus said as he pulled her into his embrace. Yuna leaned against his chest and murmured a soft "welcome" before drifting off to sleep. In the morning, Yuna and Tidus were to be found in the same position.

Their Alarm clock was not particularly friendly, however. Rather, they woke to the shrill sound of Rikku shrieking. Tidus vaguely wondered if she'd just realized that she'd fallen out of bed last night. But if Rikku's shriek was not enough to wake them, her running over to them and shaking the pair violently certainly did the trick.

"Wake up you lovebirds!" she exclaimed.

Once the two were awake enough to have coherent thoughts, a newspaper was immediately shoved in their face.

"You made the front page!"


	3. Rumors and Reporters

A/N: Something new occurs in this chapter, and Rikku's part is a bit changed. Enjoy the edit!

* * *

Chapter 2: Rumors and Reporters

"What?" asked Tidus as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Rikku pointed to the headline, and Tidus took the paper from her. "High Summoner Yuna Seen with Mysterious Young Man" he read. Below the title was a large picture of her hugging him after his victory at the tournament the previous day.

Yuna frowned deeply, then sighed. "Why don't we discuss this over breakfast? I can't think on an empty stomach."

"Don't worry," Tidus whispered to her as they headed towards the bridge, "It's probably just a slow news day."

He had had to deal with this sort of thing all the time in Zanarkand, when the press got bored. They'd focus in on little insignificant things you did or said. It didn't really make much of a difference in life most of the time. Usually things would return to normal in a day or so. People didn't care all that much.

She smiled at his attempt to cheer her up, but knew he was wrong. She didn't know what Zanarkand had been like, or what being famous there had been like. Zanarkand would never cross her mind when she thought of the media. But she knew how much the people liked her. How they ate up any story having to do with her. She knew this wouldn't blow over so quickly, no matter what Tidus seems to think. Still, she put on her mask and chatted at him until she reached the bridge, where a furled up newspaper hit Tidus square in the face.

"Cunno! Er.. Sorry! I didn't mean.. It was an accident." Brother tried to explain.

"Paine insulted him, so he threw stuff," clarified Shinra.

Paine, who had been rather apathetic to Brother's ranting, smiled up at them from her seat at the folding table they used each morning for breakfast. "Morning Yuna, Space Boy," she said.

"What?" asked Tidus, taking a seat across from her. She grabbed the newspaper from his hands and pointed to a part of the article Rikku had shown them earlier.

"_The origins of Lady Yuna's companion are unknown. It is possible to make educated guesses however. For instance, the clothing he wore was made of a strange material. It cannot be found on any loom in Spira. Therefore, he could only be wearing such things if he were a mad scientist developing strange fabrics, or if he were an alien from outer space. There are rumors circulating that he accompanied Lady Yuna on her pilgrimage, but there is no conclusive evidence so far. We will be reporting further as we learn more." _

Putting down the paper on the table in front of him, he looked at his clothes, then at the people around him. "They aren't that bad, are they?"

Responses varied.

First came an "I don't have a problem with them," from Buddy, as he took a rather large bite of his toast. Followed by "they are kind of strange," as Rikku's reply. Meanwhile Brother tried to avoid laughing at Tidus' naivety, clearly not recognizing that going shirtless was just as much of a fashion faux pas. Then Shinra gave his standard, "I'm just a kid," response. And Paine ignored the conversation completely.

"I think they're wonderful," said Yuna.

All doubts flew from Tidus' mind.

"So, what's the deal with the press?" asked Tidus when breakfast was over, "What are we going to tell them?"

"What do you mean?" asked Yuna.

"Well, we have to give them some story, or else they're going to keep making up lies about me being from outer space."

"Well, you kind of are," said Rikku, "I mean, you did sort of just, appear out of nowhere, ya know?"

"Let's not worry about it for now, I'm sure it'll blow over," said Brother.

Paine rested her head on her palm, "I don't know about that."

"No, Brother's right, lets just act normally. It's not like they've caused us any problems so far." Yuna replied.

"Alright," said Tidus, "but if we do that, can we go back to Besaid? I don't want to stay around here longer than I have to if we're not speaking to the press."

"Already on it!" called Buddy, who had gone to the driver's seat over the course of the conversation.

"Wait!" cried Rikku, "can you drop me off at the machine faction first?"

"Why?" asked Paine.

"Gippal said he had something to show me."

"Sure thing Rikku," said Buddy.

"I wonder what it is," Paine mused.

"I hope it's not another one of those ridiculous machines of his. That last one was the dumbest thing I have ever seen!"

"Come on Rikku," chided Yuna, "At least it got you squeaky clean!"

"Don't remind me!"

"What happened?" asked Tidus.

"A while ago Gippal found this old book about a man who came up with these absurd machines. They were exceedingly complex and only performed simple tasks."

"You mean Rube Goldberg?"

"You know of him?"

"Yeah, his cartoons were famous in Zanarkand! He never actually tried to put the contraptions together though. They were all just drawings."

"Try telling that to Gippal!" exclaimed Rikku.

"Anyways," continued Yuna, "Gippal was trying to show her this one machine that, um... what was it?"

"Put out a candle."

"Right, and it malfunctioned slightly."

"Slightly?! I got soaked through!"

"Are you really sure you want to go and check out whatever he has to show you then?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah, I'm not sure it's a machine after all. Besides, if he tries to show me another one of those things I can always leave, you know?"

"That's true."

"Rikku, we're here!" called Buddy.

"Alright! I'll see you guys later!"

Rikku jogged towards Djose temple without bothering to turn around and watch the Celcius leave, she could always call when she needed a ride back. Opening the doors to the temple, she looked around. People were welding together parts and drilling and cutting and hammering and nailing left and right, but other than that it was still the same old place. Rikku sighed. Though progress and machina had always thrilled her, it was still a little depressing to think of what this place had once been. But that time had long since passed and no summoners went on their suicide missions here anymore.

She pressed onward, entering the door to the right of the cloister of trials. The room had become Gippal's pseudo-office as of late, he had been in need of a place to keep the faction's paper work for quite some time and one day randomly kicked whoever was working here out to try and fill that need. Still, half the floor was covered with machina parts and sometimes Rikku wondered why he had ever even bothered. But that was Gippal for you. The day _he_ became organized would be the day _she_ spontaneously combusted. It couldn't be entirely ruled out, but it was very, very, very unlikely.

When she entered, Rikku found him sitting back in his chair with his feet up on the desk, tinkering with something. Hearing the door close behind her, Gippal looked up.

"Well if it isn't Cid's girl, what can I do for ya?"

Rikku rolled her eyes. No matter how many times she told him not to, he still called her that. She sometimes wondered why, but for the most part, supposed it to be his attempt to demean her. "You said you had something to show me?"

"Oh, yeah," suddenly his air became much more serious, and he began to dig around in one of his desk drawers. "Here it is," he said, holding up a piece of an old sphere.

"Is that all?" said Rikku, "I thought you were going to show me another one of your messed up machina! You could've invited all of us to see that!"

"No Rikku," he said solemnly, "I couldn't."

"Well why not?"

"Just… watch, ok?"

Frowning at him, she took a seat on the opposite side of his desk and turned on the fragmented sphere. Watching closely, she gasped. It was an Al Bhed woman with shiney blond hair and a pair of goggles around her neck. "Mom?" Rikku stared at the goggles in the vision, the reached in her belt pouch and fingered her own. They were the same. Her mother appeared to be arguing with a yevonite at the gates of Bevelle. Rikku watched in horror as guards turned to assault her mother, but the sphere cut off. "Gippal, what happened?! What did they do to her?!"

"I don't know, I found it digging at one of the sites. I'm not sure how old it is, but I figured you'd want to see it."

"Which site?" She demanded, "I have to find the rest of it."

"Why?"

This guy was an idiot. "Don't you get it Gippal? This could finally tell me what happened to her!"

"What, you mean you don't know?"

A pang of betrayal pierced Rikku's heart. "You do?!"

Gippal reeled back, "Well, no, but…"

Rikku shook her head. It was sadness, and anger, and the grief of mourning that she never finished welling up inside of her. "Dad never told us what happened. All he said when she died was 'It's not your fault," he refused to tell us anything!"

"Rikku… Do you think it was because of you?"

"I…" She looked away, preferring to bore holes in the floor with her gaze. "I don't know."

"It – it couldn't have been. Your fault…. That's ridiculous"

"And what if she was there because of me?" Rikku cried. "What if it was something I did, or something I said that sent her to Bevelle? I have to know Gippal."

"Can't you just ask Cid?" He asked, "Do you have to find the rest of that sphere?"

"Gippal you know he's too stubborn to ever change his mind on anything!" Rikku plead out.

"So are you! You won't even try it!" he raved.

"It's a waste of time!" she spat back.

"Think about this Rikku! What if your mother dies in the second half of that sphere? Are you sure you really want to see that? I watched the Guado kill my mother the day they attacked home! That's something that stays with you!"

"If you didn't want me to go look for the rest of it then why did you even show me!!!!" she screamed.

Gippal paused. With a sigh, he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked to the floor. "I don't know. I guess… I guess it just didn't seem right to keep it from you."

"I'm glad you care," Rikku said, "but now that I've seen it, I just _have_ to know, you know? Where did you find it?"

"Eastern expanse." Gippal turned and grabbed the keys to his hovercraft off the desk. "Do you think we should call Brother?"

"No," said Rikku, "Not yet. I just… Not yet."

He nodded. "Alright then, let's go."

Meanwhile, the Celsius landed on the beach at Besaid.

Tidus' stomach grumbled loudly. "Is it lunch time yet?" he asked?

"Already?" replied Yuna, "We just had breakfast a few hours ago!"

"Hey, I can't help it! My body needs food!"

"Alright then, I'll race you to Wakka's, I'll bet he has something to eat," Yuna giggled. Without waiting for his reply, she started to run up the incline towards the village.

"Hey, wait up!" he called after her before he too started running. Yuna only laughed and ran faster.

Paine, who had been walking leisurely a few meters behind them turned to Brother and asked, "Are they always this childish?"

He looked back bewildered. "What are they doing that's childish?"

Paine sighed. "Never mind. At least they're just flirting and not naturally stupid."

Brother paused a moment to absorb what she had said.

Paine wondered at how different Yuna was around him. She seemed so much happier, and more playful. It reminded her of her time working with the guys. Not the behavior so much as the happiness, but it evoked a sort of fondness and nostalgia in her none the less. Suddenly, she heard a shout from behind.

"Hey, wait a minute, I'm not stupid!" Brother yelled, then charged at her.

'_Shit' _thought Paine. Then she raced off to catch up with Yuna and Tidus.

Thinking to trick Brother, she took a right instead of the usual left towards the path back to the village. Planning on jumping in the river to get back to Besaid, she was startled to see another man climbing out of it. He didn't look familiar, and at this point Paine knew almost all of the people who were part of the close knit community. She scrutinized him as he walked past, breathless. Something red glimmered through his fingers.

"You're a thief." she stated simply. He looked back once and ran.

Paine followed him back as far as the beach, but by the time she got there he was already speeding away in a motor boat. "What Yuna does is none of your business!" she yelled after him. Paine kicked at the sand. She really had to remind Gippal not to sell his inventions to strangers.

By the time they got to Besaid Village, both Yuna and Tidus were out of breath.

"You're fast," said Tidus.

"Yeah, well," Yuna panted, "you're not that slow yourself."

"Hey!!! Brudda!" A voice called up ahead. Looking up they saw Wakka, then waved and smiled but opted to remain standing in place. So he jogged over to them. "Have you seen the papers?"

Tidus smiled, "Yeah, we have. We're not too worried though."

"Well be worried," warned Wakka, "Reporters were here a little less than an hour ago bugging me an' Lu about you guys."

"What did you tell them?" asked Yuna.

"To leave you alone. But you've gotta be careful Yuna, you're famous after all. Those guys are like leeches, they'll latch on and suck you dry!"

"I know," she said, "thank you."

"Don't mention it. Hey, we were about to eat lunch, you two wanna join us?"

"Yeah!" said Tidus immediately, "I'm starving!"

Wakka laughed, "Alright, come on then, let's go."

But upon reaching the hut, they almost crashed into Lulu, who was running out of it to find Wakka.

"Good, you're here. Have you told them about the reporters?"

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong?"

"They took it."

"Took what?"

"The sphere."

Yuna gasped.

"What sphere?" asked Wakka.

"The one of Shuyin!" Lulu replied, "Really Wakka."

"Oh… That's bad, ya?"

"Wait, who's Shuyin?" Tidus asked.

"That's the guy who looks just like you, remember?" Yuna said.

"Oh, yeah."

"The newspapers won't be able to tell the difference," Lulu stated, "Rumors will start."

"Woah, are you sure it's not just misplaced? It's gotta be around here somewhere, ya?"

"Yes I'm sure, I left it right on the counter top. How stupid of me."

Wakka looked at Yuna and Tidus. "Sorry guys, I guess you'll just have to keep a low profile for a while, ya?"

Tidus frowned, "I guess that means no going to see blitzball."

"You could join the Aurochs," suggested Yuna, "They're still a terrible team, the media never pays them any attention."

"Hey!" exclaimed Wakka in offense.

"Sorry Wakka, but I mean that that way he could get into Luca without being noticed."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea Yuna," Lulu replied.

"I like it," said Tidus, "I'll take the risk. I've missed blitzball."

"Well, you still have to ask them first, ya? Anyways, no use worrying about all that now, let's have lunch first."

"Good idea!" Tidus agreed.

Lulu walked over to Yuna and leered at the two in front of them. "Men," she whispered exasperatedly. Yuna laughed, and sat down to eat.

When lunch was over, Tidus went to discuss joining the team with the Aurochs, and Yuna returned to the beach to clear her head of the day's worries. Ever since Tidus got back, so much had been happening so quickly. All she had wanted was some peaceful time to spend with him. Though she had been having fun, she hated dealing with the newspapers. It had been hard enough when Leblanc had posed as her for that concert, but she wasn't sure if she could deal with them interfering in her love life. She had already saved Spira from Sin, why couldn't that have been enough for them? Instead they had to know everything that was going on in her life. Especially now that there wasn't much conflict between the Youth League and New Yevon to report on.

"You ok?" called a voice behind her.

Yuna turned around at the sudden interruption of her thoughts. When she saw who it was, she smiled. "Yeah Paine, I'm fine," she replied, "Just a little stressed."

"Here," said Paine, tossing Yuna the warrior dress sphere. "Spar with me."

"What?" asked Yuna. "Battle you? But that's hard!"

"Come on, just try it. It helps to forget about your worries. It always works for me, I promise."

"Alright," said Yuna tentatively, "If you're sure."

"I am."

Yuna found it surprising how quickly she stepped into the ease of battle with a blade considering how rarely she used it, but it was a nice change of pace from guns or a staff. Paine was right about it. There was something therapeutic about the swing of blades and the clank of metal that didn't come with firing off rounds or waving a wand. Before she knew it the sun had set, and both of them were thoroughly exhausted, soaked with sweat.

"Thanks Paine," she said, "You were right, it did help."

Paine just smiled, and the two of them returned to the village for the evening.


	4. Feelings

A/N: Some more events were added this chapter. Enjoy it!

* * *

Chapter 3: Past Distortion

"Rikku, it's two in the morning!"

Rikku ignored Gippal and continued digging. All they knew was which part of the desert he had found it in. So Rikku had insisted on scouring every last inch of the desert until she found something, and that was exactly what she had been doing.

"Rikku, come on, you can come back this afternoon!"

She continued to dig. Her hand was numb from holding the trowel, her knees were sore from kneeling constantly, but she labored on. All the while, thoughts and feelings she had put out of her mind for years surfaced. When Cid refused to say what had happened to Mom, she had holed herself up in her room for weeks. Wondering, was it her fault? Had someone found out about the gun she had stolen from that guard? If Cid had said it wasn't her fault, it had to mean it was her fault, right? Eventually she had decided to assume her father was telling the truth, but now that she had seen this… She had to know the answers.

"Rikku, you're going to make yourself sick! And will you at least respond when I talk to you?!"

"I'm not leaving."

"But what about the fiends?"

"I said I'm not leaving."

"They're tougher after dark! You're exhausted! I'm exhausted! It's not safe to be out here."

"I fought Sin, I can handle this."

"This is crazy! You're mad, you know that?! Showing you that sphere was a mistake, for all we know that could just be someone who looks like your mom and not be your mom at all! Like Shuyin! This person could be exactly like that! I'm sorry I showed it to you, let's just leave, ok? It's not worth the trouble and-"

"Gippal."

"I can't leave until you do because if Cid finds out I left you in the desert alone at night-"

"Gippal!"

"-he'll kill me. I'm the head of the Machine Faction Rikku, I can't afford to get killed, if I-"

"Gippal!!!"

"What?"

"I think I found it."

The next morning the headlines were just as bad as the last, if not worse. The moment Tidus read them he got a bad feeling – and his feelings were usually right – that fighting was going to re-emerge between the Youth League and New Yevon. A blurry picture of Shuyin in a jail cell was the first thing to assault his senses when he picked up the paper and upon reading the article things only appeared to get worse and worse.

_A sphere was released to the press yesterday of the man seen with High Summoner Yuna the day before that._

'Yeah right,_'_thought Tidus, 'more like they stole it.'

_Surprisingly, it seems that he had been kept in the underground jail in Bevelle for some time now, though sources are unable to determine why. In the sphere released, he was pleading to be let out so he could protect the summoner, so likely this was recorded sometime during Lady Yuna's pilgrimage. His pleas only seem to further support the rumors that he was indeed one of Lady Yuna's guardians, but if this is the case, why was he locked up? There was a time when Yevon temporarily abandoned Lady Yuna, perhaps they threw one of her guardians in jail out of spite. But if so, why keep him so long, even after she had defeated Sin? Perhaps it was for another reason, but if so what? _

Tidus put down the paper - that was all he needed to read, more than enough in fact. The only thing they had gotten right was his being one of Yuna's guardians, and even that was muddled somewhat. He had been planning on going to Luca with the Aurochs today to play some blitzball, but that seemed to be out of the option now. No doubt, were he to go, people at the news stands would recognize him. It was disappointing, but he would have to tell them he just couldn't go. He was about to leave the lodge – he had slept in the old crusaders lodge that night – when Yuna came in with an important message.

"Have you seen the papers yet?" she asked him upon entering.

"Yeah, it looks pretty bad."

Yuna nodded. "Nooj and Baralai want to meet with us in Luca about them."

"Luca? Are you sure that's a good idea? Won't the reporters mob us or something?"

Yuna laughed a little, "They'll pester us but I doubt they'll mob us. Generally, it's not a good idea to have a meeting at either New Yevon or the Youth League. Holding them on neutral ground seems to cause the least conflict, and Luca is the only other place where they can get a private meeting room. It may be a pain, but I think we should agree to meet them."

"Alright," agreed Tidus, "at least I won't have to cancel my game with the Aurochs then."

"Oh, that's right! They have a game today! Well, then this is perfect!" Yuna smiled and grabbed Tidus by the wrist, pulling him out of the old crusaders lodge and towards the airship.

It reminded him of how much she had changed. There was a time when she wouldn't have been confident enough to pull him along like that, but he liked the change. She seemed happier than before, and that would always be a good thing.

"Brother! We need to go to Luca!" called Yuna as she entered the Celsius.

"Brother's not here right now," came Buddy's reply, "He left on 'urgent business.'"

"I wonder what that could be," Yuna mused.

"Either way," said Tidus, "Do you think you could give us a lift Buddy? We need to meet with Baralai and Nooj."

"Sure thing," he said, "I was just about to give Paine a lift there anyways."

* * *

Tidus, Yuna, and Paine disembarked at the docks in Luca a short time later. 

"I'll walk half-way with you," Paine said, "But I have to split when we reach the sphere theatre."

"No problem" said Tidus.

"What are you doing there?" Inquired Yuna. She knew she'd never find out if she didn't ask.

"One of their sphere operators is in the hospital. I'm filling in for the rest of the week, just until they can find a long-term substitute."

"Did you know the sphere operator?"

Paine saw the bushes lining the street move out of the corner of her eye. Ignoring her friend's question, she walked over to the bush and kicked at about knee height. A cry of agony was heard and out fell a man with a camera around his neck, clutching his groin. Paine ignored his suffering and ripped an ID off his shirt. **Chocobo Press** it read, **Field Reporter: Charlie**.

After he was done wincing, Tidus laughed. "I'm getting rusty," he said, "I should have noticed that guy ages ago."

"Camera" demanded Paine. The reporter just looked up at her like she was speaking Al Bhed, so she reached down and pulled the camera off his neck herself.

"H-hey!" he managed to groan out in protest.

"Don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong." She said, then threw the camera to Yuna, who let Tidus catch it. The three began to walk again.

"Thanks Paine," said Yuna, unsure if she was really thankful. Paine just nodded politely in response though; her head wasn't really in the conversation anymore. She wondered how many more people like that Yuna had missed seeing over the past few days. Didn't she know those reporters didn't see her as human? Just some pawn to be used for their benefit? Yuna needed to be more careful. Paine continued this train of thought as her feet automatically diverged from the footsteps of her friends.

"Does she even know how scary she is?" Tidus asked once Paine was safely out of earshot.

"Well, she may be a little cold at times, but I don't think she's scary," said Yuna. "What makes her so scary?"

Tidus looked at Yuna like she was crazy for a moment, but then realized, "Of course you wouldn't think she's scary. You've never been kicked in the nuts before."

Yuna broke into a fit of laughter.

"I'm serious! She has deadly aim, and she was talking with Rikku about the benefits of steel toed boots as weapons the other day."

This just made Yuna laugh harder. Even though it was while before they reached their destination, Yuna still had to fight to keep her laughter under control when they got there.

* * *

They entered the conference room. 

"Ah, good, you're here," said Nooj when he heard them enter.

"Hello Nooj, hello Baralai," said Yuna, just barely containing a smile.

"What, no hello to _me_ loves?"

Yuna turned to the left. "Oh, Leblanc! I didn't see you there!"

"She insisted on coming," Nooj said with frustration.

"Is this the man you were looking for?" asked Leblanc. Walking up to him, she grabbed his chin and turned his head side to side, as though inspecting his face. "Hmm, not bad," was her final decree, letting go of Tidus' chin much to his relief. "But of course, he's no where near as handsome as my Noojie-Woojie," she purred, attaching herself to Nooj's left arm. Tidus snickered, but Yuna elbowed him in the side to shut him up.

"Anyway," said Baralai as he looked at the discomfort on Nooj's face in bemusement, "the reason we called you here is to discuss what you'll allow us to tell the media."

"Right," said Nooj after finally having pried Leblanc from his arm, much to her chagrin. "People are already getting riled up at the alleged claims of Yevon jailing one of your guardians. We want to let them know about what happened with Vegnagun and Shuyin to prevent more fighting."

"The problem is," said Baralai, "if we told them this we'd have to tell them that you saved the world again. We wanted to be sure you'd be willing to deal with the added publicity."

Yuna frowned, being everyone's savior once was enough, and she didn't need it twice. But she didn't want to be the cause of bloodshed either.

"I thought you guys helped defeat Vegnagun though," said Tidus.

"That's true," agreed Nooj, "but the people will inevitably give most of the credit to Yuna, seeing as she already saved them once."

"You can tell them about Vegnagun," Yuna decided, "but please, tell them it was the Gullwings who defeated Vegnagun, not me."

"Alright," said Nooj.

"Lady Yuna, you do realize this means we'll have to tell them that you were searching for… um, I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Tidus."

"Right – searching for Tidus in order to explain why you even became involved in the whole Vegnagun fiasco?"

"Oh, um… alright. I guess we should come up with a story for the press anyways. It's looking like they're not going to drop this story any time soon."

"I don't see why they're so interested in you anyways," said Leblanc, who had somehow reattached herself to Nooj's arm. "You saved the world already, what more do they need _you_ for? Besides, Noojie and I are far more interesting anyways, right love?"

"Er…uh, sure. Right"

Tidus snickered. This time, Yuna didn't stop him.

* * *

It was already 3:00 in the afternoon by the time Brother arrived at the machine faction and Rikku and Gippal had explained the sphere fragment to him. Like Rikku, he wanted to see the rest of it immediately, and agreed with Rikku (which always meant trouble) that Cid would never tell them if they just asked him when Gippal tried once again to stop them from watching it. They had waited for Brother to arrive to watch the new piece of the sphere that Rikku had found, so turning it on was an anxious moment for everyone. 

Again Rikku watched as the Yevon guards turned to assault her mother. Suddenly though, they stopped. A priest, it seemed, had ordered them to do so. They watched as he berated his subordinates. Suddenly, the sound on the sphere began working.

"…_disobey the teachings of Yevon,"_

There was static, which made it hard to hear much of what was being said. The next phrase that could be heard clearly was

"…_Are you alright…"_

More static. The next to speak was her mother.

"_My husband…"_

Again there was static in the audio, and Rikku's mother seemed to be negotiating with the priest, until gunshots pierced the static noise, and, surprisingly, Cid ran out from Bevelle. Without a word he dragged their mother along with him. The sphere ended.

"So, they didn't kill her?" asked Brother.

"Maybe the gunfire hit her," suggested Rikku.

"I don't think so," said Gippal.

"But then, what was this?" asked Rikku. "Why did a sphere of this form?"

"I don't know. You'd probably have to ask Cid."

"It doesn't matter," said Brother, "He won't tell us. It is probably best to just forget we ever saw it."

"What?! How can you say that?! Even if it's not how she died, she's still our sudran!"

"What can a sphere like that do other than cause pain?! Memories are nice, but that's all they are, Rikku! Forget it."

And with that, Brother left to return to the Celsius.

Gippal put his hand on Rikku's shoulder. "He's right you know. That sphere is a memory. Leave it be."

Rikku nodded dumbly and left. She wasn't going to leave it be though, she knew that much. Rikku steeled her pride. There was only one thing left that she could do. She was going to ask Cid. But first, she wanted to go back to the airship. She didn't know where he was at the moment, and she needed a rest anyways. Staying awake for 31 straight hours wasn't exactly easy. Besides, conversing with Cid would be like talking with a treasure hording adamantiose. He was too stubborn to budge, too protective to share, and only slightly less scary than lightning.

* * *

Yuna returned to the docks to get Gil for her ticket to the blitzball game only to find that both Rikku and Brother had returned to the airship, and that Shinra had 'accidentally' borrowed some Gil and forgotten to tell her. Suffice to say she was not very happy. Still, being the pushover that she was Yuna forgave him, but was disappointed that she wouldn't see Tidus play for the first time in two years. 

"I'd lend you some money," said Rikku, "but I'm kind of broke."

"You could always enter us in the tournament," suggested Buddy.

"That is right!" exclaimed Brother, "If we play blitzball, Yuna can still see the game!"

Rikku squealed in sudden delight, "And Tidus doesn't know that we've been playing yet, right?!"

"No, I haven't told him yet. It just never came up," said Yuna.

"Let's surprise him! He won't know what hit him!"

"Well…"

"Come on Yunie, it'll be fun!"

"Alright, let's go sign up."

So they left the docks and went to the registration booth. It was signing up that she realized they were missing a player. "Someone has to go tell Paine!"

"I will go!" exclaimed Brother, still looking to be Yuna's favorite if only for a little while.

"You'd better hurry," said Rikku, "it's only a half an hour until they draw to see who plays who."

* * *

Tidus arrived at the Aurochs locker room with five minutes to spare. Even though he had changed into an Aurochs uniform – which he thought looked rather ridiculous on him– in the bathrooms of the building where they had met with Baralai and Nooj, several reporters had managed to recognize him. He was able to charm or distract his way out of most interviews, but Shelinda left him little choice but to answer a few questions. The only information he gave was that the sphere was not of him, and that he was going to be late for a blitzball game if she kept him, but it was enough to make him worry. He was waiting to make an official statement with Yuna. She needed to be on the same page as him. He knew how these things worked, the press loved to divide and conquer. But he'd have to tell her after the game, five minutes was barely enough time to warm up. 

Tidus had tried to do a sphere shot once without warming up. He had ended up on the bench for a week from the muscle he pulled. Since then he warmed up religiously before every game that he played. And this game in particular, he knew, would be tough. Apparently a newer team had signed up for the tournament last minute. He didn't know who they were, no one seemed willing to tell him, but the team had won quite a few tournaments. Looking up at the clock from the lunge he was currently doing, he saw it was game time in a minute, and gathered up the team for a pre-game pep talk. Like two years before, his enthusiasm for winning riled up the team, and they headed into the sphere pool with cries of "Victory! Victory!".

Suffice to say, it was a shock when the new team turned out to be none other than the Gullwings. Since when did Yuna play?! Rikku he could understand, during their pilgrimage she had always gone underwater with him and Wakka whenever underwater battles were necessary. But Yuna had hardly been able to hold her breath for more than thirty seconds. He could only ponder it for a moment though, because when the buzzer went off Tidus instinctively jumped for the ball and the game was on.

Catching the ball, he charged forward into a two man breakthrough with Brother and Paine. Brother tackled, but did little damage. Paine caused significantly more damage, in part because she used a whither tackle, but luckily Tidus had equipped his anti-whither

technique that day and resisted. He passed the ball to Letty.

Letty swam forward into a breakthrough with Rikku in which he barely was able to keep the ball, and passed back to Tidus who had swam further towards their goal.

Tidus prepared to shoot, but Yuna got in front of him before he could begin the shot and initiated a breakthrough. Normally, Tidus would have knocked his opponent out with the Jecht shot, (or as Yuna preferred to call it, the Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III) but this was Yuna, he couldn't hurt her. Instead he opted for a sphere shot, but she tackled him with her venom tackle, took the ball, and passed it across the sphere pool to Paine, who then promptly scored a goal.

Tidus cared for Yuna, really, he did. But he'd be damned if a bunch of girls, Buddy, and a small (though admittedly genius) child beat him at blitzball. Brother didn't count, he decided. He could lump him in with the rest of the girls. Tidus cracked his knuckles. It was time to get serious. It was time to blitz.

* * *

The Aurochs won the match, though they didn't take the cup. Tidus made a note to tease Wakka about the shape he had let his team get in since he'd been away. Not that they were in particularly good shape before, but they had improved a lot during the games he played with them while on the pilgrimage. It seemed the improvements hadn't been retained two years later. 

But first things were first. As soon as the tournament was over, Tidus rushed to the locker rooms for opposing teams.

"You play blitzball!" he exclaimed almost angrily as he burst opened the door without knocking. Luckily, the girls were all dressed, though Brother later gave him a long and obnoxious lecture about it anyways.

"Yes," replied Yuna, shocked and dumbfounded by his sudden, forceful entrance.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"It just never came up."

"But, when did you start?"

"When Lulu was nearly full term the Aurochs couldn't take the time to play, so they asked us to stand in for them."

"Well that explains how they got so out of shape," Tidus mused.

"You'll fix that though, right?"

"You know it. We're going to win the next tournament Yuna. I've got a good feeling about it." And of course, Tidus' feelings were usually right.


	5. Their Story

Very few changes were made to this chapter. I really liked it. Still, it flows better if you want to reread.

* * *

Chapter 4:

Tidus was surprised to find that the front page news the next morning was not about him and Yuna, but his happy mood changed upon reading the content of that article. Indeed, it was an article about them in disguise.

_Three New Yevon guards were injured yesterday in a scuffle with several Youth League members. It began with a sour remark from one League member about the crimes of Yevon against Lady Yuna, and escalated from there. When asked what caused him to make such comments, he simply replied, "They deserved it." What this may mean for future New Yevon – Youth League relations is yet to be seen. The New Yevon guards vehemently denied any crimes of which Yevon was accused, and it can only be speculated as to how many of these crimes were actually committed. So far though, the evidence is stacked against them._

He put down the paper. Now he was the cause of fighting. People were hurt in his name. Perhaps the people were more offended for Yuna's sake than his, but it still felt like it was his fault. They had to make their statement soon. Yuna had worked so hard in the past two years to keep the peace between these organizations, too hard for it to all become unraveled now. Leaving the crusaders lodge, he headed towards the airship to discuss their story with Yuna.

Boarding the ship, he was pleasantly surprised to find Yuna already on the bridge. It would save him the trouble of waking her up.

"Have you seen the papers?" he asked, handing her the one he had been looking at minutes before.

"Yes. We really need to make a statement soon. I don't want people fighting because of me," she replied.

"I know."

"Have you thought of any way to explain your absence? I was thinking maybe we could say that Sir Jecht had been sick, and you had been staying with him since we defeated Sin."

"Maybe, but then people will be wanting to see my old man, and he's dead, so it's not like they can really do that."

"We could always say he died of the sickness."

"Maybe. But I'd like to keep it closer to the truth if possible. It always makes answering questions easier."

"We can't tell them you were a dream. They'd think you were unsent! What if someone tried to send you?!"

"I know that. But maybe… Maybe we could say that defeating Sin put me in a coma or something."

"How is that any closer to the truth than my story? Besides, reporters would search for medical records."

Tidus began to pace. There were so many things they had to steer clear of. "Okay, what if we told them that I got amnesia after the fight with Sin? It would also explain why you were looking for me."

"I don't know, you'd be forgetting so much. Is that really believable?"

"People believed me when I first came to Spira, and I couldn't even 'remember' what a summoner was back then."

"Fine then, you got amnesia, but where were you while you had it?"

"Wandering? We could say I got lost in the Baaj ruins, like I did when I first came to Spira."

"What if we said you fell off the airship during the final battle! You landed in the ruins and got stranded there for two years! No one would be able to disprove it at the very least!"

"Survive there for two whole years? I would starve to death."

"There could've been edible plants there."

"Alright, fine. So I fell off the airship, landed in the Baaj ruins, and miraculously survived there for two whole years?"

Yuna smiled. "That's our story and we're sticking to it!"

"Ok. Let's just tell the rest of the Gullwings, see if they can come up with any flaws in our plan."

As it turns out Shinra had been able to spot a flaw in their plan. Not only would they have to let the rest of the world know where the Baaj ruins were, if other people explored there and found no plant life, the story's credibility would be at risk.

Rikku came up with a quick fix for that though. Before Tidus and Yunie went to talk to the press, she and Paine would stop in at the ruins and plant a few old fruit trees there or something. They could make it look like they had grown out of cracks in the walls. So the story was set.

* * *

That afternoon, as Yuna and Tidus called the press conference, Buddy picked Paine up from her day job and flew her and Rikku over to the Baaj ruins to plant a few trees that Rikku had dug up at Besaid. Before disembarking, Rikku pulled Buddy aside to ask him something. 

"Buddy, do you know where Cid is?"

"Your vydran? Nah, I haven't seen him in ages, why?"

"Nothing much, there's just something I need to speak with him about."

"Rikku, is something wrong?"

"Wha?!" She exclaimed. "No no no no no no! Nothing wrong! Nothing at all!" She waved her hands back and forth at him as if to make a point. She only made herself seem more suspicious.

"It's just… a family thing, yeah! And, you know, I thought he might like to know what was going on with Yuna and Tidus, you know?"

Buddy sighed at her antics. "Alright. Just, know I'm here if there's something you need to talk about, ok? I'll keep and eye out for him."

"Yeah," she smiled weakly, "thanks."

"Thanks for making me do all the heavy lifting," Paine said to her when she got off the ship.

"Heh, heh, sorry about that"

"It's fine. But since I carried off all the trees, you have to break the walls where we need to plant them."

"What?! No fair! That's way more work!"

"You snooze you loose," was Paine's only reply.

Paine led her to the sites where she had set up the three vnied fruit trees while Rikku had been talking. It was really the perfect tree for the job. They never grew to be more than four and a half feet tall, so it wasn't hard to find some that were easy enough to carry, yet still looked old. They could survive in almost any climate, and were found all over Spira. It would be no surprise to the news crews that some were growing here. The fruit didn't taste that great, but in a pinch it was edible. The three trees they were planting could have easily sustained a person for two years if they'd had to.

Rikku took out a sledge hammer and began hacking away at the old wall, grumbling all the while. Soon grumbling turned to silent thought, and silent thought turned to contemplation. She wondered if there would be a hole where Anima's statue had been. And if Anima's statue had a hole, would Shiva's have had one too? Or the Magus Sisters for that matter.

"What do you think?" she asked Paine after sharing her thoughts.

"It's a possibility, but it would probably cause more trouble than good to look."

"Aww, is Paine scared of a little adventure?"

"Rikku, opening up the doors to that chamber could just release fiends that had poured out when they were pouring out of all the other chambers. There's no use for the holes anymore anyways. If you want to risk your life just to look at a hole in the ground, be my guest, but I'd rather not fight if I don't have to."

"Fine," was her only reply, "be a party pooper."

* * *

Meanwhile in Luca, Yuna and Tidus were sharing their story of the past two years with the masses. 

"I'm sure you all know why we've called you here today," said Lady Yuna. A hush came over the crowd as journalists got their note pads ready and reporters signaled their crews to lift the cameras high into the air.

"There has been a lot of controversy and speculation regarding myself and the man standing next to me, lately. We've called this meeting to set the record straight."

"Two years ago when I defeated Sin, he was standing next to me, just as he is today. As many of you have surmised, he was one of my guardians during my pilgrimage. Unfortunately, during the final battle with Sin, he got knocked off the bridge of my Uncle Cid's airship. We were uncertain of where he landed or if he was alright. The public was waiting however, and my guardians Wakka and Lulu refused to let me head off to search for him so soon after the defeat of Sin. They went in my stead, and I thank them for doing me the favor during such a hectic time."

Yuna felt odd about thanking Wakka and Lulu for something they had never actually done, but Tidus promised that it would make the story seem more authentic, and the reporters seemed to be eating it up, so she supposed he had been right.

"After things had settled down, I became a sphere hunter in hopes that perhaps I could find some clue to tell me where he had landed. My good friend and cousin Rikku had found a sphere of a man closely resembling him, and my hopes were to find more that would perhaps lead me to him. This sphere is the one that was somehow leaked to the press. I am uncertain which reporter took the sphere, but please recall that theft _is_ illegal."

A few among the crowd chuckled at this.

"This sphere was not of him, but lead me to become involved in the crisis concerning Vegnagun. It was shortly after this crisis was resolved that Buddy, a member of the Gullwings, found a sphere in some ruins that had yet to be charted on any map. Landing in these ruins, we found him making an SOS sign. He had heard the airship coming.

Before he states his side of the story, are there any questions concerning mine?"

Yuna called on a man in the front row.

"So… What's his name?"

Yuna blushed and Tidus laughed out loud. Looking back, she realized that she had gotten so wrapped up in remembering the story they had come up with, she completely forgot to introduce him to Spira.

"I'm so sorry, I can't believe I forgot!" she said turning to Tidus.

"It's fine," he replied, still laughing. Turning to the reporter, he said, "My name is Tidus."

Next, Yuna called on a young woman who was waving her hand frantically towards the back of the audience.

"So are the rumors of you two being lovers true?"

Yuna turned redder, but Tidus knew how to handle this sort of thing. Before he could even start to reply however, the crowd burst into a frenzy of questions at the look on Yuna's face.

"Did this begin during your pilgrimage?"

"How long did you know him before then?"

"Were you in love during Lady Yuna's wedding with Seymour?"

"Like Lady Yunalesca and Lord Zaon!"

"Do you plan on getting married any time soon?"

Seeing Yuna's inability to cope with so many personal and unexpected questions at once, Tidus took over the podium completely.

"Quiet!" he yelled into the microphone. When the hall settled down, he started speaking again. "Thank you. These questions are irrelevant to the current conference. We appreciate your interest but ask that you understand we cannot answer these questions at this time." Turning to Yuna he smiled, and her eyes clearly thanked him.

"Now, as for what happened to me while I was lost in the ruins, I _can_ tell you that."

* * *

Rikku wiped her brow as she and Paine finished hoisting the last tree into its new home. 

"Finally!" she exclaimed, "I'm soo tired!"

"What," retorted Paine, "You can face off with Sin and Vegnagun but you can't handle a few trees?"

"Hey, you try breaking those walls! I swear, they must be made out of mythril or something!"

"I wouldn't be surprised. They probably had the technology for it back then."

"You think? Even the Al Bhed haven't come up with anything that can forge metal into buildings."

"Who knows? It was a thousand years ago. I guess you could ask Tidus if you really wanted to know."

"Yea, maybe I will ask him," she replied thoughtfully, letting the conversation drop off into silence. Gathering up the hammer and the bags the roots of the trees had been kept in for transportation, they began to head beck to the ship.

"You think the papers will them alone after this?" Rikku asked suddenly.

"I dunno," was Paine's honest answer, "I doubt it. They know where he comes from now, but this is the biggest story the papers have had in a while. Yuna makes them money. Who knows when they'll let her go. "

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"It's just so unfair, you know? Yunie's been working so hard for Spira. It's always been all about what the rest of the world wants. When is she gonna get what she wants?"

"I don't know Rikku," Paine replied stonily, "I don't have any more answers than you do. Life isn't fair and we're all just going to have to deal with it. _All_ of us." She gave Rikku a pointed stare.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Paine sighed, "Gippal told me about the sphere."

"What?!" Rikku stopped dead in her tracks. "That _buubea-rayt_, the _zang_! Dryd fyc bancuhym! E tuh'd fyhd du rayn ypuid ed vnus oui Byeha! Ed'c so bnupmas!" (That poopie-head, the jerk! That was personal! I don't want to hear about it from you Paine! It's my problem)

"Rikku, I can't understand you, slow down!"

"I said that it's personal! My own problem! I don't want to have to hear about it from you either, so stay off my case!"

"But he's worried about you, Rikku! And frankly, so am I! He thinks… that you might do something drastic. Or something stupid, and I wouldn't put it past you either."

"She's my _sudran_, my mother. I can't just let it go, I can't!"

"What if it causes more pain than it's worth?!"

"THEN IT'LL BE MY FAULT! At least I'll have made my own choice! You know?"

"Yeah, I know. Just, don't do anything stupid, alright? If you start to find something you don't think you should hear, just let it go, ok? We're really worried about you. Especially Gippal. He cares about you a lot more than he lets on."

"I know, but I'm a big girl now. Even if he thinks of me as a little sister, I can't let him watch over me forever… I've got to make my own decisions."

Rikku headed onward to board the airship, but Paine just stood still and watched after her.

"Little sister?" she muttered softly, "Rikku, that's not what I meant…"

* * *

Tidus called on the man in the green shirt that was sitting to the mid-left. 

"So, just to be certain, all you've eaten for the past two years are vnieds?"

"Yes, and it was rather of nasty too, so I'm really glad to be back."

For the past hour Tidus had been listening to and answering these senseless questions. He was no newbie to press conferences; he had taken part in them regularly as a member of the Zanarkand Abes. It was just that back then his coach had usually hogged the spotlight and answered the vast majority of the questions. It used to tick him off, but now he found himself wondering how coach did it. Sure, Yuna was answering some questions, but the vast majority had been surprisingly directed at him. He glumly thought of the irony that he was finally feeling some respect for his coach's glory-hogging ways now that they would never see each other again.

Finally, no one was left raising their hand, and the conference was dismissed. Tidus and Yuna began the walk back to the airship.

"You think that will appease them?" Yuna asked.

"For now."

"I was hoping you'd say something more like forever," she teased.

"Don't we wish."

Tidus sighed and took hold of Yuna's hand, lacing their fingers together. She sighed with contentment and leaned against his shoulder.

They didn't see the last lingering reporter behind them, and they didn't notice as he snapped a photo with his shiny new camera. At the moment, even if they had noticed, they probably wouldn't have cared. In a few days, that whole story would change.


	6. Relationships

A/N: The main change in this one is where it ends, though I think it makes more sense now thanks to revisions in earlier chapters. Aside from the prologue, this chapter is the shortest of the rewrites, but everything I did was with a purpose.

* * *

Chapter 5: Relationships 

The morning after the press conference, most newspapers had the predictable articles concerning the day before. For once Tidus found himself glad to be picking up the paper. Most headlines were something along the lines of, _True Origins: The Man Following Lady Yuna_ or _Yuna's Mystery Man: Secrets Revealed_. Though he was still concerned about what would be in the papers tomorrow, Tidus decided to enjoy the momentary peace spending the day with Yuna and the rest of the Gullwings.

"Morning!" he called as he entered the bridge of the airship. Looking around he found the crew to be up and alert, having breakfast at the fold out table, and taking care of business on Shinra's computer monitor.

"Good morning," Yuna chirped back at him as she pick out an apple from the bowl of fruit. "Have you seen the papers?" she asked.

"Yea, it's nice to finally see some truth on those pages."

"What truth?" Paine inquired groggily. She had been out working late the night before, helping the new sphere operator get settled. "Everything you told them was a load of crap."

"Well, at least the news isn't troublesome today," said Yuna.

"Way to be a party pooper Paine!" Rikku chastised.

"What did I do?"

"So what should we do today," Tidus interjected, "now that we have some free time?"

"I'm busy," said Rikku, "I've finally found where my father's hiding."

"Why do you have to see Uncle Cid?" asked Yuna, "Don't you normally stay as far away from him as possible?"

"Well, normally, yea. But I have something important I need to talk to him about."

"Speaking of which," spoke Paine, "I have some business with Gippal today, so I can't do anything today either."

"I told you to stay out of my business!" cried Rikku.

"Who said it's got anything to do with you?"

"You know it does! I thought you agreed to let me be?!"

"I did, this is completely unrelated."

"Then what is it about"

"I can't tell you that. It's personal."

"I knew it! You don't trust me! I can't believe this!"

"Stop being so selfish Rikku, the world doesn't revolve around you, I have my own problems!"

"BULLSHIT!" Her hands flew to her mouth. "Now look what you made me do! I haven't said a curse word since I was thirteen, and you ruined it! Thanks a lot!" She huffed, and stormed out of the room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tidus and Yuna had backed away from the arguing duo and walked off the airship in the direction of the beach.

"What was that about?" Yuna asked. "I don't think I've ever seen Rikku quite that upset before."

"I have, once," Tidus said, recalling the Guado's attack of the Al Bhed home.

"When was that?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," he replied, recalling how upset he had become that day. The day he found out the truth about defeating Sin. About what it would do to Yuna.

"Well, I guess that we're on our own today then," she said, sensing his discomfort.

"That's okay," he smiled, "I think I like it better that way anyways."

Yuna laughed, "Well then, what should we do?"

"I don't know. You have any ideas?"

"Well, we could go to the beach."

Tidus' face lit up like a child at Christmas. "Hey, yeah! And that means we could play some blitzball! Right?"

At the look on his face, Yuna giggled. "Is blitzball all you can think about?"

"Pretty much, yeah," he said in complete seriousness.

No longer able to hold it in, Yuna burst into a loud fit of laughter.

"What's so funny?"

Yuna didn't stop laughing to answer as they left for their destination, so she didn't hear Charlie's camera, or the rustle of bushes behind them.

* * *

Paine swept regally through the doors of the machine faction. Working Al Bhed stopped to look up from their work at the intruder as she passed, and murmured curiously at her grave countenance when she was gone. Paine paid no heed. She roughly opened the door to Gippal's office.

"How many times do I have to tell you to knock when the door is closed?! Oh, Paine, it's you. Sorry about that. Puhad keeps forgetting to knock. He's new though, so what can I do other than yell a bit? Anyways, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"To whom more like. It's Rikku."

"Don't tell me-"

"Yeah, she's found where Cid is already."

"This isn't good. We can't let her find out!"

"So he told you what happened to her mom?"

"Yeah. And I get why he never told her. Paine, when Rikku finds out, she's going to go ballistic. I know her, I know what she'll think. She's going to blame herself."

"I really don't think you can stop her Gippal."

"She's going to go crazy, commit suicide, then become a ghost and haunt me for trying to keep it from her, I just know it."

"Stop being ridiculous. Rikku's strong. She loves life too much. Just be there for her. She'll be fine."

"I hope you're right."

"So… How did it happen?"

* * *

Rikku climbed the spiral staircase of the Youth League's soon to be new headquarters at Kilika. While it was a Youth League building, the construction work was an Al Bhed job. Of course Gippal, being the poopie-head he was, had failed to tell her that he had asked her old man to take over the project for him recently. She would have been fuming with rage at Gippal for not telling her if she hadn't been brimming with anticipation. Finally, she would confront her father with the sphere. And maybe now that she was older, and that she had a piece of his past in the palm of her hand, Cid would tell her what had happened to sudran all those years ago.

Rikku reached the top of the stairs and entered the hallway to her left. This was where the already completed meeting room was. She had found out that Cid had set up headquarters there by asking one of the workers outside. With one last deep breath, she opened the door.

"Vydran?" she asked tentatively, peeking in.

Cid looked up from a machina part he was tinkering with. "Rikku," he said gravely. "Gippal told me you would probably be coming sometime soon."

"So you know why I'm here then?"

"Yeah, I do." "So let me see that sphere then."

Rikku dug into one of the numerous pouches on her belt and pulled out said object. Gently, she placed it in her father's calloused hands.

He turned it on and watched it, then was quiet for some time.

"Well?" Rikku asked when she finally could not bear the silence any longer.

Cid looked up, as though just noticing that she was in the room with him. "It was our honeymoon."

"What?" asked Rikku. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't that.

"We had been staying at an inn by Macalania. Normally, in those times, we wouldn't have left home. But your mother had always wanted to see the woods. So for our honeymoon, we decided to risk it and go."

"But I did something stupid. The second night, I went to the bar with a man I met at the inn. We got drunk Rikku, very very drunk. And I made a stupid bet. I bet I could sneak in and out of Bevelle without getting caught."

"Almost as soon as I left for the city, your mom found out. She was furious. She went to talk to the guards, to see if they could look for me, but she was Al Bhed, so they attacked her. When I ran out with the guards on my heels, I saw her. I just grabbed her and ran. I hadn't seen her so angry in my life. That's the night I gave up alcohol. It was a hard commitment for me to make. But it made my life that much better. That night meant a lot to me. I think maybe that's why it became a sphere. We were near Macalania when it happened anyway."

"Oh" was all Rikku could think to say.

Cid cleared his throat. "Well, if that's all then-"

"No!" she shouted.

"I thought not," he grimaced.

"Dad, if it's not that night, then how did mom die? Why won't you tell me? I'm not a little kid anymore! I deserve to know!"

Cid sighed. Normally, he would have been furious with her for asking and sent her away. But truth be told, Gippal's warning had actually given him time to think, and consider what to say so that his daughter didn't hate him even more than she already did. Gippal didn't know it, but if it weren't for him, Rikku might never have found out what happened to her sudran.

"Do you remember how when you were small, you used to love exploring the desert? Finding ruins and bringing things back home? And how we always tried to stop you?"

Rikku felt a lump forming in her throat. This was it, like she thought. Like she feared. It was her fault.

"Yeah."

"Well, that's because what you found weren't always ruins. At the time, Yevon had been experimenting with new guard machine for Bevelle. You probably beat up quite a few of their results when you crashed Seymour's wedding actually."

"Cid"

"Right, sorry. Anyways, sometimes, you and Brother would get into their work instead of the ruins around home, and we would have to answer for you. Normally when it happened, I would have gone and taken care of it, but I had been careless and broken my leg recently. You remember, right?"

"Mhmm"

"If I had taken my crutches, I probably could have gone. Really, I had no reason not to. But I decided to take the day off from work to heal, and your sudran wouldn't let me stop resting. She insisted on going instead. I should have stopped her, I knew they wouldn't respect her like they did me. I-"

"They killed her?"

"They shot her on sight."

"So if it weren't for me… If I had just listened… They wouldn't have… And sudran would be…"

"Rikku, it's not your fault, it's mine!"

But she wasn't listening. Tears crept into the corners of her eyes. It was her fault. Mom died, and it was all her fault. She had killed her own mother! She ran. She ran out of Cid's headquarters and out of the Youth League's headquarters. The tears were flowing steadily now. Sobs wracked her body. She wailed, and she didn't care who heard her. She didn't notice as she automatically paid the fee to sail back to Besaid. People on the ship turned and stared, but she didn't notice. It was all her fault. She could hardly breathe. It was all her fault. She wailed out into the ocean. It was all her fault. It was all her fault. It was all _her_ fault.

* * *

Yuna sighed as she leaned into Tidus and watched the sunset. She felt wonderful. She hadn't had such a great day in a long time. They had gone to the beach and played blitzball for a few hours, then returned to the village for lunch. After, they went back to the beach and just walked along the shore chatting and collecting seashells. Tidus had spotted a hill where the sand reached farther out into the ocean, alongside the dock. Then they went up there to continue talking, and watch the sun fade into darkness. It had been a long, but perfect day. Yuna smiled as she thought about it, and yawned.

"You tired?"

Yuna nodded. "Maybe we should head up to the village."

"You go ahead. I just want to stay here for a few more minutes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go and get some sleep."

"Alright, if you're sure."

Tidus let out a yawn he had been holding in as she disappeared from sight. Truth be told, he was exhausted as well. But he had a bad feeling. He just knew that he had to stay, that something was going to happen. His feelings were usually right after all.


	7. Breaking Point

WARNING! THE PROLOGUE – CHAPTER 5 HAVE BEEN EDITED AND NEW CONTENT HAS BEEN ADDED. IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS CHAPTER, IT IS HIGHLY SUGGESTED THAT YOU GO BACK AND REREAD THE REST OF THEM.

A/N: Alright guys, this Chapter means a lot to me. It's really where everything comes together with the most important part of my original vision for this story, and that is the perfect ending. In FFX-2, the perfect ending is ridiculously hard to get, and most people who want to see it don't have the time to get it. Luckily I downloaded it off the internet, but for a long time I've wanted to put it in a story. The dialogue from that scene is directly copied in this chapter, I am disclaiming it now. More on this at the end, but you should read the story before I ramble enough to give anything away.

* * *

Chapter 6: Breaking Point

Just as Tidus started to head back from the beach, a ship docked, and out came Rikku. She was a complete mess. Her face was red and splotchy, and she was bawling uncontrollably. He ran to meet her.

"Rikku! What happened?! Are you all right?"

"It's a-all my f-fault," she sobbed.

"What is?" he asked.

"S-su-sudran. When she d-died it was a-all my f-f-fault. If I h-h-had, if I h-had-hadn't gone to the ru-r-r-ruins she would b-b-be o-okay."

"Sudran… your mother?"

"Y-yeah."

"Rikku, I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but you were little when she died, right? I don't think she'd blame you for her death. You didn't know better than to do whatever you were doing. If she needed to protect you from the ruins, then that was her choice."

"Not the r-ruins. Ye-yevon."

"Still, she was protecting you, right? My mom, she died when my old man did. I loved my mom, but you know, I don't think she really loved me enough to stay behind. She left me alone, by myself. If it weren't for Auron, I… I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're actually pretty lucky. Your mom died because she loved you. You should understand. You became Yuna's guardian for the same reason, right?"

"Y-yeah. I g-guess I d-d-do. It's just s-s-so-s-so unf-f-fair. W-why h-her? It was my f-fault!"

Tidus reached out and wrapped his arms around his friend. He could tell she had been holding pain over her mother's death inside for a long time. Now that she knew how it had happened, it was all coming out. When his mom died, he had behaved much the same way. Only he took his anger out on his old man. Rikku, she was taking it out on herself.

For her part, Rikku felt his embrace and latched onto it like a lifeline. Hugging him back tightly, she sobbed into his chest. She wailed and cried until she made herself sick. Keening in the darkness like a wolf howling to the moon, Rikku cried herself to sleep in her good friend's arms.

Once he was sure she was asleep, Tidus carried Rikku up to the airship and tucked her into bed.

"What happened?"

He spun around in surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's not your fault," said Yuna, "I'm a light sleeper. So what happened to Rikku, is she okay?"

"I hope so. I found her as I was heading back. That's why I had to stay I think. I had one of those feelings of mine. When I saw her, she was crying."

"What about?"

"Her mom I think. Something about when she died, I'm not entirely sure why, but I think Rikku blames herself."

"She never really did talk about her mom. I guess that's what she had to see Uncle Cid about."

"Oh yeah. I had completely forgotten about that."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Tidus laughed.

"Stay in the airship with me tonight."

"How could you tell I wanted too?" he asked.

"You seemed sad."

"Well, Rikku made me think of my own mother."

"You miss her?"

"Sometimes. But I have you now, so I know I'll be alright."

Yuna smiled at his sweetness, and scooted over to make room for him under the covers. Climbing in next to her, Tidus wrapped his arms around her waist and fell asleep. Neither of them moved from that position until they woke up the next morning.

* * *

A shrill wail that could only belong to Rikku was the alarm clock of everyone aboard the Celcius the next morning. She ran to Yuna and Tidus, who were still half asleep on the bed, and shook them violently.

"Papers. Th-the papers!" she sobbed.

"Rikku, what?" asked Paine, getting up in the bed one to the left.

Rikku kept shaking Yuna and Tidus. "Fa'na eh dra bybanc. Muug, look!" (We're in the papers. Look, look!)

Being in the papers was nothing new to Tidus and Yuna. In fact, in his sleepy stupor Tidus half-believed he was still in Zanarkand, and the Abes had won their game. It was when the 'we' part registered that both Tidus and Yuna fully woke themselves up.

"We?" asked Yuna, taking the newsprint from her cousin. She read aloud, so everyone could hear.

_Sir Tidus - team player_

For some reason the title of the article did little ease her nerves.

_In recent days the public has been alerted to the true nature of Yuna's lost guardian, and many have even seen him scoring goals for the Besaid Aurochs as the newest member of their team. But it would appear those aren't the only goals he's been scoring. While he's a fair player in the sphere pool, out of it he's a high suspect for foul play._

Below this there were two pictures, side by side. One of him holding Yuna at the beach, and one of him hugging Rikku. Yuna felt violated. Exposed. Reporters were there that evening? They saw her in her personal time? What else had they seen?

Paine got out of bed to look over her shoulder. The papers were greedy as Yevon. Maybe worse.

The caption for the pictures read, _Sir Tidus with Lady Yuna, and an hour later, with Lady Rikku._

Yuna continued reading.

_While publicly playing the role of our beloved Lady Yuna's partner, it would seem that secretly, he has had other interests. Surprisingly, not an hour after Yuna left Tidus, her own cousin, Lady Rikku came running from a ship into lovers awaiting arms._

Yuna stopped, the next word on the page was suddenly darker. Now the picture of her face had a spot on it. Then Tidus was darkened, then Rikku. Then it dawned on Yuna that she was crying. She couldn't stop.

"Yunie, I d-didn't d-d-do it" sobbed Riku, "We d-didn't-"

"I know," Yuna choked out.

But Tidus' concern was still etched deeply in his face. He held her hand, and unexpectedly Yuna flung her arms around his neck. She began to sob, wail like a small child. Caught up further in the spirit of things, Rikku added her shrill noise to the air.

"_**Cry, cry, that's all you're good for."**_

Tidus could hear his old man's voice in his ears. But for once he didn't heed it. He didn't need to worry about his father, because he had something stronger to stop his tears. Yuna. He knew that right then, he had to stay strong for Yuna. He held the girl he loved tightly and rubbed soothing circles on her back, like his mother had done for him as a child. He knew in this moment, what Yuna needed was a protector. What Yuna needed was her guardian.

She was a warrior. Paine took in the scene before her. It was eight o'five in the morning, and here were her best friends in shambles. A seething hatred boiled up within her. A rage so strong -- stronger than she had felt for Shuyin and stronger than she had felt for Sin -- took hold of her body. Her fist trembled with fury. She hadn't known fists could do that.

"These papers," she hissed through barred teeth "No better than Yevon. Selfish as the temples." The strongest people she knew were curled up, in tears. "No more. I won't allow it!" Paine stormed out. She didn't leave the ship. She went to the bridge. She dropped into Buddy's seat and drove as fast as she could go. She reached Luca. She dived into the dock recklessly and would have slammed the doors on her way out if they weren't automatic.

Paine didn't know how long it took to get there, and frankly she couldn't see how far she had walked because tears blurred her vision. But she got to the main office of the Chocobo Press. She kicked her way through the double doors, prompting the secretary to hide under her desk in fright. Paine walked past the desk without a glance. Up the stairs. One flight, two, seven, it didn't matter. She reached the top. _Editor in Chief_ the door read. She kicked it open.

O-O-O-O

Hunched over in front of the desk was a man in a tweed jacket, hunched over and scrambling with papers. They had to go in his brief case so he could leave. He needed to scurry faster.

BAM!

Down went the door. Paine marched forward and grabbed the man by the collar of his Jacket and slammed him against the wall. **Charlie** read the nametag. "I warned you to stay away from my friends!" She gritted out. It was all she could do. She was so tense her teeth would not part. Charlie stood petrified, and Paine threw him to the ground.

"You think messing with people's lives like that is ok?!" she screamed, suddenly full of raw, released energy. This man, this scum, this louse, he was no better than the leaders of the crimson squads. Using people for profit. Let them die in caves, we don't care! Where did he get off?! What made him think he had the right? "Yuna didn't do a thing do deserve this shit!" The only thing Yuna had done was save a world full of asses. Twice.

Charlie pushed himself up from the floor and made for the door. Paine was faster. Her arms formed a blockade.

"She's not my concern," he stated, then again made to exit. Paine shoved him back to the floor. "You made her cry." She said solemnly. "You made _my friend_ cry. Don't you have anything to say for that?"

Charlie had had enough. He picked himself up off the floor, picked up his suitcase. He straightened out his back and stood like a statue. Then Charlie the statue promptly cracked.

"You think I wanted those stories to print? They weren't mine! In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a field reporter, not Editor in Chief! I don't _get_ to decide what goes into the paper. My boss makes me change things up! If I print the truth, refuse to do what they say, I get fired!"

"So get fired then!" Screamed Paine.

"I ALREADY DID!!!"

Charlie stormed past her and slammed the door shut on his way out. Suddenly Paine felt awful. This man was a puppet. A victim. No less a part of the machine than she had been.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" asked a man. He had opened the door that Paine stood staring at. Paine looked at him. "No," she said. Then she left the editor in chief to an office in disarray.

* * *

She left the building of the Chocobo press to search for the reporter. Her search was selfish she knew, because she still did not plan to apologize. She just needed to know. She stood in the center of town for a good ten minutes, scanning the crowd, before it struck her that irrational people generally head straight for the pub. So that's where she went, and where she found him. He was thoroughly plastered already, holding onto his fifth little glass of vodka. Paine walked up to him.

"Haven't you bothered me enough?" he asked when she spun him around.

"Why were you fired Charlie?"

"I didn' wan'em to say'ee was 'avin a fling. 'swrong I said. They took m' notes 'an publish'd it b'hind m' back. Put m'name onnit 'n ev'rythin. 'N then I was fired."

Paine couldn't bring herself to tell the man she was sorry. She reached into her pouch and pulled out 1000 gil. "For his drinks" she told the bartender. Then she left.

"Will you look at that?" said the bar tender as he picked up the cash, "no tip!"

"Shu'up!" yelled Charlie to no one in particular. A bizarre mixture of sleep deprivation, stamina potions, and alcohol was starting to cause him to hallucinate. He took one more swig of vodka, then declared loudly "I'm not goin' on yur shtupid advenshure!" before promptly passing out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rikku had gone back to bed, intent on sleeping the day away, and Yuna had finally calmed down.

"I'm sorry," she told Tidus, "I guess it's just, I thought that once we spoke to them, they'd leave us alone. And those pictures…"

"I know," he soothed.

"There's just so much to think about."

"Where can we go that doesn't have people around?" Tidus mused.

"A place just for us…" Yuna echoed, a new idea forming in her head. "Tidus," she told him, "let's go to Zanarkand."

They went to the bridge, not really caring or remembering that they were leaving Paine in Luca. Tidus took the Pilot's seat and Yuna stood beside him. The Celsius was off to Zanarkand.

* * *

Tidus was stunned to find the place looking exactly the same as it had two years ago. He said as much.

"For a while it was really bad," Yuna told him, "tourists were everywhere. A lot of them were sphere hunters, searching the dome."

He remembered the apparitions they had seen there. The Summoners and their Guardians. Seymour as a boy. But they were only pyreflies. Tidus looked down at his hands. He was still solid, still in one piece. A weight he didn't know he had been carrying fell off his shoulders. As though coming here and here alone could finally allow him to reconcile his past -- to absorb it.

"I remember," he began, "the night we first reached these ruins, we all sat around the campfire," he jogged to a small mound of land. "Right here, we sat, and shared all our memories of the pilgrimage. And I remember, I climbed this hill and stared at the dome for ages after."

Yuna smiled. "Memories are nice."

Tidus climbed his hill and stared out at the old blitzball stadium. So many memories were at home in that old ruined building. "I got a theory," he told her. "I think the faith gathered up my thoughts and put 'em together to bring me back." He stretched his back out as though testing his theory. "Maybe, something like that."

Yuna was surprised. He hadn't ever wanted to talk about this before. It scared her. But somehow it relieved her as well. Because she had already been afraid of him leaving her for so long. That she would wake up, and one day he wouldn't be there anymore.

Tidus looked back down at his hands, seeing through them to the deck of Cid's airship. "Or maybe, I'm still a dream."

At first Yuna had been afraid because of what he was.

"Wait," she asked, "so you'll disappear?"

It had been her only concern. Yuna knew that everything she had dreamed of could fall apart at any moment, for any number of reasons. Even now, in the back of her head, the dream was reason one.

Tidus sighed at Yuna's inquiry. Being back in this place, it made him realize something she didn't.

"Cherish me Yuna" he told her, "And I'll cherish you."

Because even if he was a memory of a man from some long forgotten place, memories were something to be treasured. Printed stories could be nice or they could be dreadful, but that's all they were. Memories could do so much more than the Al Bhed thought. Two people could share one memory and even after years apart, that memory could _unite_ them.

"All right? We gotta stay together. That's what we have to do."

Yuna complied literally. She ran up to hug him from behind. "Is that what the faith told you?" She asked.

"Nah," Tidus answered truthfully, "but I like it."

Yuna smiled, and then laughed. Even in the midst of so much confusion, Tidus always managed to make her feel like everything would be alright. She placed her hands on his back and shoved him into the water. He sputtered.

"Hey, that's not cherishing."

Yuna smiled. For the first time in years it felt like she was free to live. Just for a moment.

"You didn't disappear."

Tidus lifted his hands into the air and stared at them in wonder.

The memory would last a lifetime.

* * *

A/N: While a large part of this chapter is dedicated to character development, the development really focuses on some of the key issues in our hero's lives that make them act and think as they do. This chapter is as much a milestone for me as it is for these characters. It allows me to see how I have grown as a writer. When this fic was first written, everything that came from my fingers was instinct. It was what sounded right. Now, on top of that, I'm making conscious artistic decisions, and exploring the themes presented in game based text. Writing up the 100 ending really made me realize some of the key themes not only in my own story, but in all of the Final Fantasy X universe. I not only recognized the themes, but I purposely emphasized them using all sorts of things that usually only get named in commentaries for English class. So I really hope you enjoyed this new chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, because what I did in it makes me very proud.

P.S. Did anyone catch my little reference to a well known flash video? I know it was corny, but I couldn't resist.


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